Familiar foes do battle in Winnipeg

Football Betting Lines

09/08/2010 - Winnipeg, MB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For the second time in as many weeks the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers find themselves pitted against each other on the gridiron, this time at Canad Inns Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

In Week 10 action, the Roughriders scored nine straight points to open the fourth quarter at home and that was enough to put the team over the top in a 27-23 final versus Winnipeg. The victory for Saskatchewan continued the trend of alternating wins and losses by the club over the last seven games.

The Roughriders scaled back their running game and instead focused on putting the ball in the air as Darian Durant converted 23-of-35 passes for 301 yards, yet he failed to put one in the end zone, was intercepted once and sacked three times. However, when Saskatchewan did opt to keep the ball on the ground the end results were nothing short of amazing as Durant gained 43 yards on six carries and scored once and Wes Cates added a pair of majors, even though he gained just 15 yards on seven attempts.

Over on the other side Fred Reid was limited to just 43 yards on 13 carries, but still he made his way over the goal line in the setback for the Blue Bombers. Buck Pierce was back under center for the club and hit on 21-of-29 passes for 243 yards, but like Durant he could not get one of his passes into the end zone. Steven Jyles, who was brought in to sub for Pierce, completed all four of his passes for 43 yards and a score in the losing effort.

Keeping Winnipeg signal-callers on their toes was James Patrick who notched yet another interception for the Roughriders, returning it 44 yards on the first play of the second quarter to later set up the first major of the game. Patrick now has a total of seven interceptions on the season, easily the top number by any defender in the league entering play this week. Unfortunately, the defender isn't getting much support in that area from the rest of his teammates because through 10 games Saskatchewan has a total of only 11 picks and is currently breaking even in the turnover department as a result.

As frustrating as it might be for Patrick to see his team with a turnover differential of zero at the moment, it is still better than Winnipeg which is a minus six due to the fact that the Bombers have only 17 takeaways thus far. The biggest issue for Winnipeg has been maintaining possession of the ball because at the moment it is tied with Toronto for the most lost fumbles with 11.

Jyles and Pierce, the primary gunslingers for the Blue Bombers, have done all they can to try and keep the team competitive thus far with their combined 14 TD passes and just six interceptions. The team as a whole is completing 63.5 percent of its pass attempts and putting that altogether gives the unit an efficiency rating of 99.6, which is currently third in the conference. No matter which signal-caller is under center for the club, the main option down the field remains Terrence Edwards who is second in the league in receiving yardage with 778, averaging almost 18 yards per catch while reeling in seven TDs for the squad.

Durant has been slinging the ball all over the field every chance he gets for the Roughriders, which is why he leads the league in passing yards with 2,775 after nine games. However, Durant has also had more than his share of mistakes and is currently tied with Calgary's Henry Burris for the most interceptions with 13. In defense of Burris, he has tossed his picks while also converting a league-leading 21 majors, compared to just 11 TDs for Durant.

In his last three appearances against Winnipeg, Durant has averaged almost 260 ypg through the air, has thrown for a pair of touchdowns and also logged two majors as a runner in order to keep the Roughriders more than competitive in the series. Helping to balance out the offensive attack, Cates has been destroying the Bombers defense in the last four meetings with a total of eight touchdowns on the ground and another through the air, even though his overall yardage hasn't been all that spectacular.

With respect to the all-time, regular-season series between the clubs, Winnipeg is ahead by a count of 112-83-3 dating back to 1945. Thanks to the victory last week the Roughriders have now taken five in a row and six of the last seven meetings with Winnipeg.